Sarajevo roses (Bosnian: Sarajevske ruže) are memorial craters created where the road was damaged during the war (1992-1995) and filled with red resin to as a remembrance of the victims. There are about two hundred Sarajevo roses all around the city, located in places where at least three persons died during the siege of Sarajevo.
An average of 329 mortar shells rained down on the city every day for more than 3.5 years. The Siege of Sarajevo lasted 1,425 days (the longest in modern warfare) and claimed nearly 14,000 lives by the time the Dayton Accords were signed, ending the war. Some of the memorials are official roses that were marked by the Ministry of Veterans Affairs of Canton Sarajevo. Others were marked by citizens of the city without official permission.
Each year Youth Initiative for Human Rights Bosnia and Herzegovina volunteer crews repaint and maintain what is left of the roses. Today, only twenty-eight roses remain on the street of Sarajevo.
